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Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Back in Mexico City and at first I was enamored! The delicious food on every street corner, the abundance of everything – including water and medicine, the ease of getting around and most of the comforts of home. After the first few days the novelty of it all wore off and I began to miss Cuba. I still miss Cuba. I couldn’t tell you why exactly. Cuba had really pushed my limits – I had experienced every emotion there from depression and heart break to love and pure bliss. Even after all the ups and downs, I still love Cuba. I think what I really missed was the friends I made there and the times we shared.

In Mexico City, I was luckily able to stay with the same Couchsurfing host again in the neighborhood of La Condesa. After sitting in traffic for an hour on my way from the airport to my host Gerardo’s, I met up Cinthia and Perla to grab tacos! I quickly filled them in on everything that had happened in Cuba while I’ll filled myself up with tacos. In a way it I felt like I was back home.

Cinthia had been on a few Tinder dates recently and convinced me to download the app. It was time to see if the love of my life had been waiting for me in Mexico. There weren’t too many gems on there that struck my interest but I matched with one guy Marco who, I decided to meet up with.

Marco is an architect and an all around super nice guy. We met at a park in La Condesa and ended up wandering the streets talking. Our whole date was in Spanish – I started to think, this is a good free way to practice my Spanish! After about an hour we decided to stop and grab some street food.

After spending a month in Cuba deprived, I wanted to eat everything in sight! There was one taco in which they sliced a thick piece of gruyere cheese, fried it on either side and put it in a tortilla. Of course I had to try it – it was amazing! We each had four tacos and it ended up being less than $8!

We ended the night with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Marco definitely isn’t my soulmate and I don’t plan on seeing him again but I did enjoy our evening together.

The next day Cinthia, Perla and I made the mistake of going to the first ever El Día de Los Muertos parade in Mexico City. In the most recent James Bond film, the opening scene depicts a large parade to celebrate El Día de Los Muertos. The city didn’t want to disappoint all the tourist who assumed that this was something that happened every year so, they decided to start having one.

The parade was a shit show, I have never seen so many people in my life. There were so many people you couldn’t even see the parade and trying to get anywhere was impossible. On every side I was surrounded by a sea of people. It was unbearable and I felt like a sardine. I definitely do not recommend it.

Sunday, as if we weren’t exhausted enough we decided to go to Teotihuacán to see the pyramids. It’s about an hour’s drive outside of Mexico City without traffic.

Leaving Mexico City you start to see hillsides flooded with thousands of homes, one on top of the other. Every where you look are homes stacked on homes stacked on homes. Where did all these people come from?

When we arrived at the site we had a short introduction, which included information about the famous hairless dogs in Mexico. Surprisingly they are vegetarian. We also learned about the agave plant and all it’s many uses. The ancient Aztecs used all parts of the plant from the juice for sugar and tequila, to the skin as paper and even the point on the end of the leaf as a needle and thread. I was truly amazed at all the uses of this magical plant.

The pyramids were alright, maybe just over exhausted myself. It included lots of walking, lots of people and the hot sun. On Sundays museums, national parks and anything government run is free for Mexican Nationals. It’s a good day to avoid these places. The archeological site itself is truly amazing but I just wasn’t in the right mindset to fully enjoy it. It’s a good lesson in travel, sometimes taking it easy is better than seeing it all. You will be able to appreciate things much more if you give yourself some days of downtime.